Fitness Information

Fitness means different things to different people. Basically it’s having energy for everyday living with enough energy left over for recreation. Physical fitness can be broken down into the following components: Strength, Cardiovascular, Flexibility, and Nutrition.

One reason for starting a fitness program is to build muscular strength needed to pick items up and carry them to where you want them without getting tired. Another reason is to build up muscular endurance to withstand fatigue during daily activities.

Cardiovascular fitness is being able to run around without getting winded.

Flexibility is being able to reach for items, turning your head when driving, and bending to pick items up.

Stretching exercises enable you to develop greater range of motion in your muscles and joints, which help you avoid injury. You should incorporate stretching exercises into any strength training and cardiovascular training program. Before stretching, remember to warm up for 5 - 10 minutes to increase your body’s core temperature and increase blood flow to your muscles. Always hold a stretch for 10 - 30 seconds.

Nutrition is eating a well rounded diet. Be careful of saturated fats and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Another reason is to lose weight. The key to losing body fat and body weight is to understand that loss of body fat is more important than loss of overall body weight. If you lose body fat you reduce your risk of coronary artery disease. If you diet without exercise you may lose body weight without body fat. If you exercise you may lose body fat without losing body weight. In other words you shouldn’t be discouraged if regular exercise doesn’t immediately begin decreasing your body weight. The exercise should be decreasing your body fat level and improving your health in the process. You should try to incorporate exercise into you daily life at least 20 minutes per exercise session a day. You do not have to do it all at once, 5 - 10 minutes a few times a day will work.

An exercise program is beneficial in the following ways:

More energy, lowers blood pressure, losing body fat, lowers cholesterol, getting stronger, decreases risk of injury, breathing more easily, lowers resting heart rate, controls diabetes, decreases the risk of infection, improves motor skills, and clears the mind.  This quality of life list can go on and on.  No matter what your goals are, beginning a fitness program and sticking with it will always have positive effects.

Before jumping into an exercise program it is a good idea to take stock of you goals. What do you want out of a program? Also, if you have a medical issue, health risks, or are over the age 50 and not exercised before, it is recommended that you get your physician OK before you start.

Physical Activity

Physical inactivity increases your risk for Coronary Heart Disease.

The recommended levels of caloric expenditure are as follows:

Optimal 5000 Kcal per week

Moderate Risk 500 - 5000 Kcal per week

High Risk fewer than 500 Kcal

Physical Activity of exercise levels for Body Fat weight loss

The amount of exercise you get has a great effect on your level of body fat. If you increase your physical activity level, you will expend greater amounts of calories and fat, depending on how long and at what level of intensity you exercise (3500 calories = one pound of fat).

Guidelines

Consistent aerobic/cardiovascular exercise 20 - 60 minutes, 3 x a week will improve your cardiovascular system, increases your metabolism, and burn body fat and calories.

Consistent weight/strength training 20 minutes 3 x a week will increase your muscular strength, enhance your muscular endurance, result in a leaner body mass, and increases bone density.

Stretching before and after a workout will increases range of motion in your joints and muscles. Increasing flexibility also decreases your risk of injury while exercising.

Types of exercise

The type of exercise you choose for your strength program should depend upon your fitness level and fitness goals.  There are two basic categories of strength training exercises, individual muscle exercises and multiple muscle exercises

Individual Muscle exercises (single joint movement)

An exercise that uses only one muscle group and moves only one skeletal joint is called an individual muscle exercise or single joint movement exercise. An example of this would be a dumbbell biceps curl. The biceps muscle is used as a primary muscle. The single joint that moves is the elbow joint, which is flexing and extending through the exercise.

Multiple Muscle Exercises (multiple joint movement)

An exercise that uses multiple muscle groups and moves more than one skeletal joint is called a multiple joint movement exercise. For example, a barbell chest press is a multiple muscle exercise. It uses the chest muscle (the primary muscle) as well as the shoulder and triceps muscles (secondary muscles). The two joints that are moving during the exercise are the elbow and the shoulder joints. The elbow joint is flexing and extending, and the shoulders joint is abducting and adducting.

Performing Exercises in Proper sequence

 It is important to perform your exercises in proper sequence while strength training. If you are a beginning or intermediate level exerciser you should carry out multiple muscle group exercises before performing individual muscle exercises.  Performing individual muscle exercises before multiple muscle exercises prefatigues the individual muscles that might stabilize the secondary muscle. For beginners, prefatiguing a muscle could lead to injury and may also create a negative effect in overall strength gains.

Fun Fitness Facts